An old hand’s plug for Twitter

“If you have jumped to a negative opinion about Twitter, you do so at your own peril.”—Bob Sacks

When Charlie Sheen grabs a million Twitter followers in 24 hours, you know Twitter is a phenom that cannot be ignored. (Whether or not we can ignore Charlie Sheen, whose initial Twitter profile description said “Born Small… Now Huge…Winning. (unemployed winner)” is another matter.) Regular writers who aren’t warlocks like Charlie Sheen will never see the numbers of followers he’s getting (currently approaching 4 million), but they can find something even better: community and information.

If you’re still wondering about the “how” and “why” of Twitter, read the below short passage I’ve lifted from Bob Sacks’ media newsletter. Bob Sacks is a veteran print production guy who sends out a free daily e-newsletter—well worth reading every day, if for nothing less than the great quotes he starts each letter with. http://bosacks.homestead.com/subscription.html

 
BoSacks Speaks Out: Twitter tries to turn 140 characters into money
"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." —Herman Melville (American short-story Writer, Novelist and Poet. Best known for his novels of the sea, including his masterpiece, Moby Dick. 1819-1891)

I have been involved in journalism for over 40 years. I have been a reporter of our industry over twenty years. All reporters rely on resources and contacts. I have mine and you have yours. I have been using Twitter since its inception, achieving remarkable results. The secret to Twitter is being very picky about whom you choose to follow. My results are that I have 100 super professional agents reporting to me every day on the best and most up-to-date stories of our time and our industry. In a big way Twitter is one of my most valuable resources as a publisher of up-to-date industry news.

In the past few years revolutions have been organized on social media sites like Twitter. Yesterday the Egyptian government tried to shut down Twitter to squash media interaction and organization of their concerned and connected citizens.

If you haven't yet tried Twitter, you should re-visit the possibilities. Is there junk out there? Sure. There is junk everywhere. But there are also pearls and gems available almost nowhere else. I guess it is a variation of the "friends you keep" theory. I only follow people who are valuable to me and my career. I can only guess that those that follow me feel the same way. If you have jumped to a negative opinion about Twitter, you do so at your own peril.

See the Author Resources page on this site for a lot more on Twitter.

By Laura

Helping creative entrepreneurs manage their online presence. Website builder & social media consultant, ebook creator, book marketer, editor, writer, blogger. (Avocations are movie review writing and graphic design.) Worked in book and magazine publishing for many years as an editor and executive.